Alamogordo football ends season with 47-14 win over Oñate

Alamogordo really wanted to win the 2012 season finale to end the season on a positive note.

And the Tigers looked like they were prepared from the start and got back to moving the ball well on offense.

The Tigers racked up 439 yards on the ground -- and 493 total yards of offense -- in a 47-14 win over Oñate Friday night at Tiger Stadium.

Alamogordo ends the season 3-7 overall and 1-3 in District 3-5A to finish in fourth place in district.

"We talked all week about the adversity we've been through this season, playing through the injuries and stuff," Alamogordo head coach Tommy Standefer said. "(We talked about) pulling together, ending the senior's careers on the right note and the underclassmen starting their next season on the right note. The kids had a great attitude all year. It followed through this week and I was really proud about everything they've done."

The Tigers didn't have a lot of depth this season and had a number of injuries that hurt the team throughout the year. They also lost players that would have been returning starters before the season even started due to injuries or by moving out of Alamogordo.

Tigers junior running back John Matzke had a monster game, racking up 256 yards rushing on 15 carries and four touchdowns. Matzke had long touchdown runs of 65, 40 and 91 yards.

"I just wanted to help my seniors," Matzke said. "Because they put in all kinds of work and have been here since there were sophomores. I got to give it to the offensive line.

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My big man Tanner (Graham) and Devin (Massey), just the whole line. I got to give it to the defense for making those stops and everything was flowing good today."

Junior running back Cody Alfar also had a solid night with 170 yards rushing on 19 carries, including a 29-yard TD run. Alfar finished the season just shy of 1,000 yards with 964. Matzke finished with 846 yards on the ground.

Tigers senior quarterback Conrad Collins was 4 for 6 on the night for 54 yards, all to Jayson Westfall, and had a 15-yard TD pass to Westfall to put Alamogordo up 14-0 in the first quarter and added a 1-yard TD run just before halftime to put the Tigers up 26-0.

The Tigers had a 7-0 lead after the first quarter and blew the game open with 19 second-quarter points.

The Black Knights (3-7, 0-4) were able to move the ball -- and finished with 318 total yards of offense -- but could not finish drives. Oñate would get a penalty to kill a drive and Alamogordo's pass defense in the secondary caused problems for the Black Knight passing game. Oñate turned the ball over on downs three times.

"We played well, the kids did nice job this week knowing where the routes were going and we did a good job getting to where we were supposed to," Standefer said. "(The win is) tremendous for the younger kids and it's always easier to do anything off of a win. I'm just proud for all of them, they went out and played with pride and did things the right way."

Contact Mark Rudi at mrudi@alamogordonews.com. Follow him on Twitter @mrudi19 and on Facebook at facebook.com/ADNmarkrudi